DOYLESTOWN — In the first day of preliminary hearing testimony in a $20 million insurance fraud case, topics ranged from whether a stockpile of hair spray could accelerate a fire — to whether a home sale was a sham transaction — to why police questioned a homeowner's fainting. Behind a defense team of 10 attorneys, Claire Risoldi, 67, sat quietly taking notes beside her daughter Carla, 48, her son Carl, 43, and his wife, Sheila, 44, all of whom are accused of bilking insurer AIG over the course of three fires in five years, according to the Pennsylvania attorney general's office. A grand jury also recommended criminal charges against two alleged co-conspirators,...

Related "Law Enforcement" Articles

DOYLESTOWN — In the first day of preliminary hearing testimony in a $20 million insurance fraud case, topics ranged from whether a stockpile of hair spray could accelerate a fire — to whether a home sale was a sham transaction — to why police questioned a...

When officer Jesse Sollman got to work, everyone in the station knew it. He was funny, he was laughing, he was exuberant.
And when he died during an accidental shooting in the police headquarters 10 years ago, his boisterous personality, that energy,...

PHILADELPHIA — Poor training has left Philadelphia police with the mistaken belief that fearing for their lives alone justifies using deadly force, the Justice Department said Monday in a review of the city's nearly 400 officer-involved shootings since...

The man convicted of killing Rocco, the police dog, last year was sentenced to serve 17 ¾ to 44 years in prison.
John Rush, 22, made no comment to Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos before she sentenced him on Tuesday on charges...

Nine people will be competing for four seats on Lehigh County's Board of Commissioners in what is expected to be one of the county's more hotly contested races during the 2015 election.
Of the nine candidates who made their runs official by filing...

The race for Lehigh County sheriff narrowed to two candidates this week with the exit of Democratic candidate Jeremy Rossi, a Northampton County deputy sheriff who lives in Alburtis.Edward Zucal, an Allentown police sergeant and part-time deputy coroner...

DOVER, Del. (AP) — NASCAR driver Kurt Busch will not face criminal charges over claims by his ex-girlfriend that he smashed her head into a bedroom wall and choked her, Delaware prosecutors said Thursday.
The decision by the state attorney general's...

Minutes after a man stabbed a woman early Monday during a home-invasion burglary in Whitehall Township, police in neighboring Catasauqua spotted the suspect and tried to stop him.He fled in his sport utility vehicle, and police and then state troopers...

Ending months of speculation, Lehigh County Sheriff Ronald Rossi on Monday confirmed that, for the first time in 24 years, there will be a new sheriff in town next year.
Rossi, 78, a Democrat who has held the office since 1991, said he will not seek...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man convicted in a west Philadelphia slaying that police say was over expensive headphones had his sentencing delayed Tuesday following some courtroom commotion.As 21-year-old Arkel Garcia stood to have a mandatory life term...

DOVER, Del. (AP) — NASCAR driver Kurt Busch was ordered by a judge to stay away from his ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll and not communicate with her.The decision Monday by Family Court Commissioner David Jones comes after he held four days of hearings in...

Clifford Kindred can still remember the words of an Allentown police sergeant in 1981.
"Don't worry, we'll easily catch this guy," Kindred recalled, thinking back to the brutal knife attack that killed his 79-year-old mother.
On Nov. 18, 1981,...

A sheriff says authorities are following up on tips related to the search for two teenage sweethearts from Kentucky who are accused of blazing a trail of crime across the South.
Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins says authorities are...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Two West Virginia police officers were wounded in a New Year's Day shootout after a traffic stop involving a stolen SUV and a truck with two bodies inside, authorities said.The two Lewisburg officers pulled over an SUV around 4...

In her short life, 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck attended kindergarten, bounced from home to home and often witnessed her parents fighting and arguing.
Still, friends and family said, she loved her daddy and told him that often. And by all accounts, John...

SCRANTON — As searchers continue to comb the forest for accused cop killer Eric Frein, others are working behind the scenes, analyzing evidence to develop a psychological profile they hope will lead to his capture.In comments to state lawmakers Tuesday,...

For more than six weeks they scoured the Poconos woods, working extra-long shifts in pursuit of Eric Frein, the man charged with killing one of their own.
So on Thursday night, when news came from the field that the focus of their manhunt was in custody,...

Combative testimony continued Friday in the trial of two men charged in a chaotic fatal gun battle two years ago outside a Puerto Rican social club in Bethlehem.With the prosecution's star witness on the stand for part of a second day, defense attorneys...

TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie is leaning toward eliminating red-light cameras after a five-year test was fraught with glitches and gripes, even as data showed fewer crashes at intersections with the equipment.
A pilot program begun in 2009 that...